Hagerty said on CBS This Morning that she reviewed the Olive Garden because it’s what she does every week.

“It’s one of five columns that I write each week, and I went there, because it had been long-awaited. People were so anxious to have that Olive Garden come to town. And I went there as a routine workday to find out what it looked like, and how it was. And to tell my readers what was on the menu, and how the restaurant looked. How many people it could feed. I was not critiquing their food. I was reviewing their restaurant. I was trying to describe it.”

In addition to CBS This Morning, she’s appeared on CNN with Piers Morgan, the Today Show and Good Morning America.

Trying to capitalize on their new star, The Herald paid for tickets to New York for Hagerty and created a “Marilyn in Manhattan” blog chronicling her Big Apple adventure.